JD A hard to steer

John 37A

Member
My 1951 A (narrow front, roll-o-matic, one-piece pedestal) became very difficult to steer. I replaced the bearing at the bottom of the pedestal and have turned the eccentric bushing both ways. When you steer, it takes both hands and makes a loud binding sound that appears to be coming from the worm gear and the sector gear. Ideas?
 
(quoted from post at 22:58:19 01/19/16) My 1951 A (narrow front, roll-o-matic, one-piece pedestal) became very difficult to steer. I replaced the bearing at the bottom of the pedestal and have turned the eccentric bushing both ways. When you steer, it takes both hands and makes a loud binding sound that appears to be coming from the worm gear and the sector gear. Ideas?

Forgot to mention, the tractor turns just fine with the front off the ground, or at least the weight of the tractor off.
 
Did you check the ball bearings in front and back of the worm gear. It sounds like maybe the a ball or two might have fallen out of the bearing cage. My B was steering hard and when I turned out the the worm gear the balls fell out in my hand. just a thought.
 

The front bearing is definitely good- and is a tapered roller. The back bearing, I did not check but definitely will when I go back to the shop tomorrow. It sounds like the gears aren't meshing how they should.
 
Did you take the steering shaft out? If so, the back bearing may have slipped out of place and got crushed when the front bearing cover was tightened in place. When you put the back bearing in, coat it with heavy grease to hold it in place while the steering shaft is installed.
 
(quoted from post at 01:19:12 01/20/16) Did you take the steering shaft out? If so, the back bearing may have slipped out of place and got crushed when the front bearing cover was tightened in place. When you put the back bearing in, coat it with heavy grease to hold it in place while the steering shaft is installed.

I did have the shaft out- we did a total engine rebuild on this tractor as well. The steering issue started before the engine work, however. I plan on checking that bearing tomorrow. I first noticed the problem this summer and as I recall, it started rather quickly. This has never been the easiest steering tractor, especially compared to my 37 A and my 44 Farmall M. Here lately though, it takes both arms and sometimes standing up on the platform to get it to turn. A real pain in the butt on an otherwise pretty decent tractor.
 
I hope this doesn't offend you but I've seen it happen. The front end on these is so light that even with the tires only half the psi they should be, they still "look" like they are up but once really pumped up it makes a world of difference in turning effort. Had this happen on my "B". No reason to air up tires as they looked just fine. Just started steering real hard after a year or two. Pumped them up hard and had power steering again.
 
Have also seen some with the roll-a-matic turned around backwards so instead of the pivot arms trailing , they were out front pushing and really affects steering and stability. I,m sure you would have noticed this tho.
 

No offense taken at all. I appreciate the replies from everyone. I have been known to overlook simple things. The tires are brand new and are inflated to approximately 25 psi from where I mounted them and seated the bead. I left them aired up to eliminate low pressure as a possibility.
 

Roll-o-matic looks good as well. Just checked the bearings on either side of the worm gear and they are good as well.
 
A quick update, and another question. After some research on here and some checking, I found that the vertical steering shaft has excess play in it. Its to the point that the sector gear sits about 3/4" too high and doesn't mesh well with the worm gear. I'm almost positive that this is my problem.

Here's my question though... What is the cure for this? It seems that if I was able to shim the steering shaft on the bottom (just above the roll-o-matic) that would solve my issue. But there has to be something causing the problem- right?
 
When I re-built the pedestal on my 46 long hood which spent may years under a 2 row picker, I found the thrust bearing"s balls had worn grooves in both of the races so deeply that the bearing was essentially stuck fast and the vertical shaft was rotating inside the inner race more like a bronze bushing would work. This completely deformed the washer that goes between the bearing and shoulder of the spindle shaft, rolling it up into a ring filling the space between the bearing balls. The shoulder of the spindle shaft wore so much I had to put in 3 new washers before installing the bearing to put the sector gear back into proper register with the worm. My sector gear too was way too high in the gear housing. The washer I"m speaking of is key number 32 in the parts diagram. The wear was so uniform it looked for all the world like that"s how it was made but the shaft was simply too high in the pedestal housing. A new bearing & three washers fixed it and it steers nicer than my B tractors now!

Maybe this helps?

Later.
 

Thank you, Al. I'll look into this. We put a new bearing in it this summer, thinking that might cure the issue. The shaft wasn't out long, and insider get a very good look at it. I'll dig out my parts book and check into it. Thank you for the suggestion.
 

Did you put the washers in before the bearing (washers on top of bearing), or the bearing before the washers (bearing on top of washers)?
 
John 37 A,
You are on to the problem. Here in Illinois these old tractors went back into the times corn was checked and we cultivated in both directions. Those old steering post took a beating. Do you have much wear in the pedestal race area ? My 1935 "A" I want to get into it. The eccentric on the topside is loose in the pedestal . It had 3 set screws bored and thread into the pedestal at 120 deg. to hold it from moving.
 
I wonder if there was a service bulletin on adding those setscrews ? One of the first B's I had the pedestal apart on I drove the eccentric out because I thought it was stuck. Turned out it had the setscrews added too.
 

The eccentric seems tight. I just pulled the shaft out of the pedestal from the bottom. A quick look at the shaft shows a clean spot about 1-1/2" thick on the bottom of the shaft just above the roll-o-matic. At about 1-1/2", the shaft then tapers slightly to a smaller diameter. I assume like Al said, the shaft is turning inside the bearing, causing the wear on the shaft. I think if I add washers (3/8" is my vertical movement) below the bearing it should correct my issue. The bearing seems to fit good into the pedestal, although the brand new bearing did come apart when I removed the shaft. The old bearing that I took out stayed in one piece. I may replace it with the old bearing that still appeared in good shape this summer when I changed it.
 
Those are a THRUST bearing and should be marked as such on one side THRUST HERE you want the weight pushing that direction. I have had them come apart before applying pressure from the other direction too. I don't think this means much ? You could compare the height of them to see if one has worn down more than the other.
 

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